Man talks about losing wife, son, and mother-in-law in deadly crash

HOUSTON - Ricardo Escobar said he’s still in shock and in denial that his wife, Diana, their 3-month-old baby Ricard Jr., and his mother-in-law Piedad Soriano were all killed in a fiery crash Tuesday by an intoxicated driver.

Diana’s cousin, Yesenia Aguilar, translated for Ricardo as he only spoke Spanish.

“He still doesn’t want to believe that it happened,” said Yesenia.  

“They had been married for over 10 years and they had been struggling for the last 10 years to have a baby. They had him in October and like they said, the baby is now gone. He struggled. They struggled. He was sort of their miracle child? He was their miracle baby,” Yesenia said.

The family said Diana had just picked up her 11-year-old sister, Valeria from school and were on their way to pick up another family member when they were hit. The impact ejected Valeria from the car.

“She’s okay, she’s just in pain. I believe they still haven’t told her anything. She just doesn’t remember some stuff. She did have a concussion. She did end up getting some stiches in her head, but other than that, she’s alive. She’s stable. She’s talking,” Yesenia said.

Ricardo only had a few words to say to the man accused of killing his family.

“He said that he just wants to tell him that he took his whole family away and that he has to pay for what he's done,” Yesenia said.  “They were always helping people even though they didn’t have a lot. They were the type of persons that would literally take the food out of her mouth and feed you with it."

“I just want people to know that she was a really good person she didn’t deserve to leave the way she did. And the baby - the baby was barely going to be 4 months old tomorrow,” Yesenia continued.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office charged Gregory Smith with three counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault.

Authorities said Smith was intoxicated and the driver behind the wheel that caused the fiery crash on Beltway 8 and Antoine Tuesday.

Smith was out of jail on two bonds, one of which was a DWI. Smith had 14 charges total over the last couple of years.